She just dies when i try to let out the clutch

badr0bot wrote: kawman, I can walk the bike forward in gear with the clutch pulled in. I can feel a little drag but it doesn't seem like enough to kill it.

yea its not a clutch stuck problem it prolly is in the advance.

The advance turns freely. It wasn't sticking at all. Any other ideas? What might cause an engine to run and rev great but bog down and refuse to run under even a slight load?

hey guy's. i had the same problem with my kz last yr after i bought it.. was really hard to take off without killing it.. i thought i had lost my touch riding a bike!!! plus mine was super hard to start, like an old harley... talked to an old time kz mechanic here in tulsa.. i have a dyna ignition.. he said it was easy for them to stick fully advanced... that was my problem.. it had been stuck on the previos owner for a long time.
starts and runs so easy after unsticking the advance!! so much easier to ride.. and i hadn't lost my touch riding after all.. something so simple can really be a pain!!!!
good luck

maybe it's not advancing at all?? instead of being stuck fully advanced..

are the carbs clean. some times the pilot jet will get clogged.

badr0bot wrote: The advance turns freely. It wasn't sticking at all. Any other ideas? What might cause an engine to run and rev great but bog down and refuse to run under even a slight load?

Are valve clearances within specs?

Air filter blocked or dirty or over-oiled?

Adequate fuel supply into carbs?

Good Fortune!

Well miraculously she just started working. I posted my last comment before I put the ignition back together. The only thing I can think of is that it may have been stuck and just twisting it by hand freed it. The only question still lingering in my mind is why would a stuck advance mechanism result in no power? I would think that you would see a misfire when revving at higher rpms which didnt happen.

Just my opinion, but an engine operating under a load vs. no load are two completely different situations.

badr0bot wrote: Well miraculously she just started working. I posted my last comment before I put the ignition back together. The only thing I can think of is that it may have been stuck and just twisting it by hand freed it. The only question still lingering in my mind is why would a stuck advance mechanism result in no power? I would think that you would see a misfire when revving at higher rpms which didnt happen.

Not so noticeable where engine is running in neutral and the advancer is stuck in idle position, because the engine revs relatively freely under these conditions without any load.

Would lube the advancer, and perhaps both clean and lube.

Good Fortune!

Is there a side stand switch?

Update: It was the side stand switch. Just pulled it out and bypassed.